Conventional teaching methods have been based upon the Thorndike theory which has much in common with the Pavlovian conditioning theory, the child being taught facts by rote with little opportunity to obtain a basic understanding of the relationship between the facts. Classrooms have been "wordy", the typical situation being that the teacher talks to the child with the child then repeating by reciting back or writing words on paper. Such methods require strict discipline and a passive role on the part of a student, discouraging individual creation and exploration. Perhaps even worse, such methods cause the child to rebel at school and at the educational process, sometimes openly, or more often in secret or in his sub-conscious. As a result, the students acquire a revulsion, continuing into adulthood, at particular subjects which they have been exposed to in school against their will. Thus many intelligent adults have an emotional block with respect to mathematics, or science, or grammar, or history. The results of such methods has been especially disastrous with children whose background is such that they are afraid to explore or venture into creative activity for fear of reprisals. On the other hand, children whose backgrounds are such that creativity and exploration have been encouraged, are usually bored by conventional teaching methods.
Another problem in connection with the conventional methods is that they require a high degree of attention on the part of the teacher in talking to the children and demonstrations to them, listening to their verbal responses and in examining and grading written responses. Maintaining discipline is also a problem which is severe in many circumstances. As a result, the teacher oftentimes becomes tired and distraught and at odds with the children, further frustrating the learning process.
Various devices have been proposed for use in schools but such devices have been merely adjuncts or extensions of the methods based upon the Thorndike or Pavlovian theories. For example, multiple-choice teaching machines have been used wherein the student selects the correct from several possible answers to a written question, his response being automatically registered. Such machines may reduce the load on the teacher with respect to grading of papers but do not solve the basic problem.
A considerable number of types of devices have also been proposed in the prior art wherein objects are physically manipulatable into mating or non-mating relationship. Such devices, however, have been such that the student, in effect, learns specific facts by rote, without any substantial use of their discovery an inductive reasoning powers and without encouraging and developing creative and reasoning powers. As a result, students quickly become bored with such devices and none of them have been used to any substantial continuing extent. An example is the device of the Williams U.S. Pat. No. 3,333,351, wherein blocks may be arranged in prescribed relationships for the purpose of teaching English sentence structure. The arrangement is such that the teacher must thoroughly explain and/or demonstrate it to the student, monitor its use and otherwise motivate the student.